Less than a week after the New York Times published Dylan Farrow’s essay detailing sexual abuse at the hands of adoptive father Woody Allen, a heartbroken Farrow is responding to her critics — including her own “evil” brother, Moses.
“These lies – this betrayal – is unfathomable to me coming from a brother I loved and cherished and grew up with,” Farrow told People in an article published on Thursday. “He has betrayed me in the cruelest way imaginable, and betrayed my family and my mother who has loved him since day one. His betrayal is the lowest form of evil that I could ever imagine.”
Also read: Woody Allen Asks New York Times to Publish His Response to Dylan Farrow Sex Abuse Claims
Moses told the publication earlier this week that Allen did not molest his sister, and echoed the arguments of Allen’s lawyer, who asserted on NBC’s “Today” that their mother, Mia Farrow, may have planted the memories of abuse in Dylan’s mind. Moses, who has repaired his relationship with Allen since his parents’ bitter custody battle in 1992, actually turned the tables on his mother by suggesting she was physically and emotionally abusive.
“I don’t know if my sister really believes she was molested or is trying to please her mother. Pleasing my mother was very powerful motivation because to be on her wrong side was horrible,” Moses said. “She went into unbridled rages if we angered her.”
See video: Woody Allen Answers Sexual Assault Claims … in 1992
Dylan told People she knew her letter would spur “backlash,” but didn’t expect the “betrayal.”
“I knew there were people saying I was a liar and that this was part of some smear campaign – some bitter vendetta of my mother’s,” Dylan said. “I didn’t realize that it was going to be a betrayal of this magnitude.”
She blames the backlash on society, in which “victim blaming” has not only become all too common, but “accepted and excused.”
Allen’s lawyer is among those calling Dylan’s timing “suspect,” since Allen’s latest film, “Blue Jasmine,” has been a major contender during Hollywood’s award season. She maintains, however, that getting “the truth” out into the world was her only motivation, but admits it was her brother, Ronan Farrow, who inspired her to write the letter.
During the Golden Globes broadcast, when Allen was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award, Ronan reignited his family’s feud with Allen by tweeting: “Missed the Woody Allen tribute – did they put the part where a woman publicly confirmed he molested her at age 7 before or after ‘Annie Hall’?”
“After the Golden Globes, my brother Ronan showed immense bravery for standing up for the family,” Dylan said. “And I realized it was my turn to stand up and to tell the truth.”
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And the truth, she promises, is all she has.
“It took all of my strength and all of my emotional fortitude to do what I did this week in the hope that it would put the truth out there,” Dylan said. “That is my only ammunition. I don’t have money or publicists or limos or fancy apartments in Manhattan. All I have is the truth and that is all I put out there.”